Cox Communications Assessing Damage From Historic Flood

Cox Communications has added technicians from throughout the country to aid in its damage assessment and network recovery efforts, and even more are expected to join local teams. As power is restored in areas around the region, Cox is working around-the-clock to repair the network and restore services caused by historic flooding in its Acadiana and Baton Rouge service areas.

“At this time, much of the Cox network and infrastructure has remained intact,” said Anthony Pope, senior vice president and region manager of the Cox Southeast Region. “Teams from Cox systems across the country are committed to restoring services of those impacted by outages as quickly as possible, while ensuring the safety of our employees and customers.”

Company officials state that yesterday they were able to access their Denham Springs equipment hub, which feeds telecommunications services to Livingston Parish, the hardest hit area of the Cox South Louisiana network. Like many homes and businesses, it had been underwater since flood waters began to rise. Restoration has begun with engineers on site and equipment and additional resources on the way

The Cox Solutions Stores in Millerville and Gonzales are both closed currently due to flooding.

“Cox recognizes how important television, Internet, home automation and telephone services are during an emergency, as they are a primary tool for receiving recovery information and connecting with friends and family,” Pope said. “Our hearts are with our community and our more than 230 employees who were directly impacted by the flooding. We thank our customers for being patient with us through our progress, and ask them to join the Cox family in prayer for all of those impacted and displaced from the historic flood.”

Customer Advisories:

For customers in the area that are not in their home due to flooding, Cox has a Storm Recovery Package, which allows customers to keep their existing email and phone number at no charge for up to 12 months. This will allow customers to check email or voicemail from a computer or phone outside their home. Customer modems will be deactivated with this plan.

While cleaning your property, do not place debris next to or on top of Cox pedestals. Keeping pedestals clear allows our crews to repair and replace cables.

All of our technicians, whether employee or contractor, must display a Cox Logo badge at all times.Also, the vehicle in which the technician will be operating will have the large Cox logo or a contractor magnet which will display the contractor company name along with the Cox logo.

Although you may have never lost power to your home, the node (power source) that provides Cox services to your neighborhood may have been damaged and/or lost power. Power could also be out between the “‘node” and your home.

Also, the energy power path to your home may not mirror the power path of our telecommunication services to your home. Power and cable can be independent of one another.

Overall, cable communications rely on power – whether by local utility companies or through emergency generator. Even though water may have receded in your area the location of our power equipment may still be under water, or need to dry out before connecting to a power source either commercial or emergency generator.